MineralShelf — Terms and Conditions of Use

Effective date: [EFFECTIVE DATE] · Applies to: MineralShelf for iPhone, version 1.0 and later

1. The agreement

These Terms are a contract between you and [LEGAL NAME], an individual developer in Ontario, Canada ("I", "me", "my"), covering the MineralShelf iPhone application, its in-app purchase, and anything that comes with it ("the App").

By downloading, installing or using the App you accept these Terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the App — and if you have already paid, ask Apple for a refund (section 5.5).

Your privacy is covered separately by the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

You must be at least 13 years old to use the App, and old enough under the law where you live to enter into this contract. If you are under the age of majority, a parent or guardian must agree to these Terms on your behalf.

2. What MineralShelf is

MineralShelf is a personal record-keeping tool. It stores what you type and the photographs you take, organises them, searches them, prints labels for them, and adds up numbers you have entered. That is the whole of it.

It runs entirely on your iPhone. There is no account, no cloud, no sync and no server.

3. What MineralShelf is not

This matters more than the list above, so it is worth being exact. MineralShelf is not:

• not an identification service — it does not identify, classify or verify a specimen. Species, formula, hardness, crystal system, locality and everything else are what you typed;
• not an appraisal or valuation service — "estimated value" is a number you entered, not a market price, and no figure the App displays is a professional opinion of worth;
• not an authentication service — it cannot tell you whether a specimen is genuine, natural, treated, repaired, reconstructed or correctly labelled by whoever sold it to you;
• not a provenance or title check — it records what you say about where a piece came from; it does not verify that anyone had the right to collect or sell it;
• not an accounting system, bookkeeping package or tax software, and not a substitute for one;
• not a payment processor, point-of-sale system or merchant service — no money moves through the App, ever;
• not financial, investment, tax, insurance or legal advice, and not a substitute for advice from a qualified professional in your jurisdiction;
• not an insurance schedule — an insurer will want its own appraisal, not a screen from this app;
• not a backup service — see section 9.

Anything the App shows you is a reflection of your own records. It is only as accurate, complete and current as you have made it.

4. Apple

These clauses are required in any licence agreement offered through the App Store, and they apply whatever else these Terms say:

1. This agreement is between you and me only, not with Apple. I, not Apple, am solely responsible for the App and its content.
2. Apple grants you a non-transferable licence to use the App on any Apple-branded device you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions. The App may be accessed by other accounts associated with you through Family Sharing or volume purchasing.
3. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the App.
4. If the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the App, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses attributable to a failure to conform to a warranty are my responsibility.
5. I, not Apple, am responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to the App or your possession and use of it, including product liability claims, any claim that the App fails to conform to a legal or regulatory requirement, and claims under consumer protection or similar legislation, including in connection with the App's use of HealthKit or HomeKit frameworks (which it does not use).
6. If a third party claims the App infringes its intellectual property, I, not Apple, am solely responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement and discharge of that claim.
7. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
8. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance Apple has the right (and is deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce them against you.
9. You must comply with applicable third-party terms when using the App — including the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, and Apple Maps' terms where the App shows a map.

5. Licence, the free plan, and MineralShelf Pro

5.1 Your licence

I grant you a personal, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the App on Apple devices you own or control, for your own purposes — including your own business as a mineral dealer. I keep all rights not expressly granted.

5.2 What you must not do

Do not: reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the App except to the extent that restriction is prohibited by law; remove or alter notices; resell, rent, sublicense or redistribute it; use it to build a competing product; circumvent the free plan's limits or the in-app purchase; or use it for anything unlawful.

5.3 The free plan

The free plan holds up to 10 specimens and 2 expeditions, with an unlimited wishlist, and includes labels, QR codes, posters, the Collector Score, backup and export. The Market tools are not part of the free plan.

5.4 MineralShelf Pro

MineralShelf Pro is a one-time in-app purchase, not a subscription. It removes the specimen and expedition limits and unlocks the Market tools. It is tied to your Apple Account and can be restored on your devices with Settings › Restore Purchases.

Prices are set in the App Store and may change for future purchasers; a change never re-charges someone who has already bought. If a feature that is part of Pro is withdrawn in a later version, I will say so in the release notes — but I do not promise that every feature will exist forever.

5.5 Payment, refunds and restoring

All purchases are made through Apple. Apple takes the payment, issues the receipt and handles refunds under the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions. I cannot issue refunds, reverse a charge, or see your payment details. Refund requests go to Apple: reportaproblem.apple.com.

5.6 Testing builds

Pre-release builds distributed through TestFlight may include a switch that unlocks Pro features for testing. That switch is for evaluating the App, is not a purchase, confers no ongoing right to anything, and may disappear in any build. TestFlight builds expire, may be unstable, and may lose data between versions — take an export before you install one, and do not run a business on one.

6. Your content

Your specimens, photographs, notes, records and everything else you put into the App are yours. I claim no ownership of them, no licence over them, and I have no way of reaching them — see the Privacy Policy.

You are responsible for what you record: that you have the right to record it, that you may use any photograph you add, and that your records do not infringe anyone's rights or break any law.

7. Market tools — a business record, not a business partner

This section applies to the Market tools (market encounters, Scan to Sell, Quick Sell, sale records, show reports and Excel exports). Read it before you rely on the App at a show. If any part of this section is unacceptable to you, do not use the Market tools.

7.1 The App is not part of your transaction

MineralShelf records a sale after you have made it. It does not take payment, hold funds, issue receipts or invoices, transfer money, verify a buyer, check a payment, or communicate with any bank, card network, payment processor or tax authority. No money passes through the App or through me.

I am not a party to, agent for, broker of, or participant in any sale, purchase, trade, consignment or other transaction you record. Every dealing is between you and the other person. Any dispute about payment, delivery, authenticity, condition, refund, return or misrepresentation is between you and them, and I have no part in it and no ability to resolve it.

7.2 The numbers are yours

Sale prices, purchase prices, estimated values, profits, totals, revenue, fees and every figure in a show report or an exported spreadsheet are calculated from data you entered, using ordinary arithmetic, in the currency you selected.

I do not warrant that any of it is accurate, complete, current or fit for any purpose. Rounding, currency selection, a mistyped price, a sale recorded to the wrong encounter, a specimen entered twice, a figure that pre-dates an edit — any of these will produce a wrong number, and the App has no way of knowing. Check the figures before you act on them, and keep your own records.

Nothing the App displays is an appraisal, a market valuation, investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or price anything at any level.

7.3 Tax, accounting and reporting are yours

You are solely responsible for everything that follows from selling:

• charging, collecting and remitting any sales tax (GST/HST, PST/QST, state or local sales tax, VAT or equivalent), and for deciding whether you are required to register at all;
• reporting income and capital gains, and keeping the records your tax authority requires, in the form and for the period it requires;
• the treatment of inventory, cost of goods sold, and the difference between a hobby and a business in your jurisdiction;
• any business registration, licence, permit or insurance your activity requires.

An export from MineralShelf is a convenience, not a book of account. It has not been reviewed by an accountant, is not designed to satisfy any particular tax authority's record-keeping rules, and may not be accepted in an audit. Speak to an accountant. I am not one, and nothing in this App is tax advice.

7.4 What you sell, and where you got it, is yours

Minerals, fossils, meteorites and gemstones are regulated in ways that vary enormously by country, province, state and even by the individual site. You alone are responsible for complying with all of it, including but not limited to:

• rules on collecting: landowner permission, claim and lease rights, park, Crown land and protected-area restrictions, and permits;
• rules on fossils and cultural property, which in many places cannot be exported, sold or privately owned at all;
• CITES and other controls on materials of biological origin, such as amber with inclusions, coral, ivory and certain shells;
• radioactive specimens and their transport, storage, labelling and shipping rules;
• asbestiform, toxic or hazardous minerals, and your duty to warn a buyer about them;
• import, export and customs requirements, including declarations and duties;
• consumer protection and disclosure law where you sell, including the duty to disclose treatments, repairs, reconstruction, synthetic origin and incorrect prior labelling;
• the rules of any show, fair, market or venue you sell at.

The App will happily record a sale that is illegal where you are. That it did so is not a representation by me that the sale was lawful, and it is no defence to anything.

7.5 Other people's information

If you record a buyer's name or any other personal information, you are responsible for it under applicable privacy law, including PIPEDA in Canada. That includes collecting no more than you need, keeping it secure, and handling any request the person makes about it. See the Privacy Policy, section 2.2.

7.6 No liability for business losses

To the maximum extent permitted by law, and in addition to section 8, I am not liable for any commercial or business loss arising from the App or the Market tools, including:

• lost sales, lost profits, lost revenue, lost margin or lost opportunity;
• an item sold at the wrong price, sold twice, or not sold;
• business interruption, including the App, your iPhone, its battery, its storage or iOS failing during a show;
• a report, total or export that was wrong, incomplete, late or unavailable;
• penalties, interest, reassessments or professional fees arising from a tax filing, audit or investigation;
• a dispute, claim, chargeback, complaint or prosecution involving a buyer, a supplier, a venue, a landowner or a regulator;
• damage to your reputation or goodwill;
• the cost of recreating records, or of buying substitute software or services.

This is true whether or not I have been told such losses were possible, and whether the claim is made in contract, tort (including negligence), statute or otherwise.

8. Warranties and liability

8.1 The App is provided "as is"

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the App is provided as is and as available, without warranty of any kind. I disclaim all implied warranties and conditions, including merchantability, merchantable quality, fitness for a particular purpose, durability, title and non-infringement.

I do not warrant that the App will be uninterrupted, error-free or free of defects; that it will work with every device, iOS version or accessory; that defects will be corrected; that it will meet your requirements; or that data will never be lost or corrupted.

8.2 Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, I am not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, revenue, business, goodwill or anticipated savings, arising out of or relating to the App — even if advised of the possibility.

My total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the App is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you actually paid for the App and its in-app purchase in the twelve months before the claim, and (b) CAD $50.

8.3 What is not excluded

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or under mandatory consumer protection legislation.

If you are a consumer in Ontario, the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 gives you rights that cannot be waived, and nothing here waives them. If you are a consumer elsewhere, your local law may do the same, and the same applies. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or the limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so parts of 8.1 and 8.2 may not apply to you.

8.4 Indemnity

You agree to indemnify me against any claim, demand, loss, liability, fine or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the App, your records, your sales and other transactions, your compliance or non-compliance with the laws described in section 7, or your breach of these Terms. This does not apply to any claim caused by my own breach of these Terms.

9. Your data is your responsibility

MineralShelf stores everything on your iPhone and nowhere else. There is no cloud copy, and I have no copy. If your device is lost, stolen, damaged, wiped, restored incorrectly, or if the app's data is corrupted or deleted, the records are gone, and neither I nor Apple can recover them.

So:

• Export a backup regularly (Settings › Export) and keep it somewhere safe and separate.
• Keep iCloud Backup, or an encrypted computer backup, turned on.
• Take an export before you update iOS, change phones, import a backup, or use Erase Everything.
• Remember that a backup file is an unencrypted ZIP holding your prices and your buyers' names — store it accordingly.

Import replaces or merges data by your choice and cannot be undone. Erase Everything cannot be undone. Read the confirmation before you tap it.

10. Changes to the App and to these Terms

I may change, add to, or withdraw features; stop publishing the App; or stop supporting older versions of iOS. I will not push a change that deliberately deletes your data.

I may update these Terms. If a change is material I will update the effective date and note it in the release notes of the version that introduces it. Continuing to use the App after that is acceptance. If you do not accept a change, stop using the App; you may keep any copy already installed, and you may export your data first.

11. Termination

These Terms apply until terminated. They end when you delete the App. I may terminate your licence if you materially breach them — in practice this means you must stop using the App; I have no remote switch, and no ability to reach into your device.

Sections 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 survive termination.

12. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable there, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

The courts of Ontario have jurisdiction over any dispute, and you and I submit to them — except that if you are a consumer, nothing here prevents you from bringing a claim in the courts of the place where you live, or from using any dispute-resolution or small-claims procedure available to you there. There is no mandatory arbitration clause and no class-action waiver in these Terms.

Before anything formal, please write to me. Most things can be sorted out by email.

13. Odds and ends

• Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, it is limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary and the rest stands.
• No waiver. Not enforcing a provision once does not waive it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms. I may assign them to a successor of the App, on notice in the release notes, with your rights unchanged.
• Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us about the App, and replace anything said beforehand — except for Apple's own terms, which apply on their own footing.
• Language. These Terms are drawn up in English. Les parties ont exigé que la présente convention soit rédigée en anglais.
• Availability. The App is sold in the App Store territories listed for it, which do not currently include the European Union, the EEA or the United Kingdom.

14. Contact

[LEGAL NAME] support@mineralshelf.ca [MAILING ADDRESS]

For support, use Settings › Contact Support in the App — it fills in your version number, which saves us both a message.